5 Politicians Who Aren't Kwame Kilpatrick / Stereohyped

5 Politicians Who Aren't Kwame Kilpatrick

Rising Black Politicians Who Aren't Embroiled In Sex Scandals

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will go down in history with a too-long list of scandal-plagued local and state politicians, many of whom relied on racial politics to win office and subsequently play their constituents against one another. But, these days, for every Kwame Kilpatrick, who stuck to old school, unproductive politics and sloppy leadership despite his age and promise, there's a Cory Booker or an Adrian Fenty, who, like them or not, are turning over a different page. Part of the "Barack Obama" school, there is a handful of these rising black politicians who have been lauded in news magazines and on television for reaching across racial lines to get elected and get things done. After the jump, read about a few of them… and pray that none of them gets caught in salacious text messaging scandals. Something tells me these guys know better.

Name: Adrian Fenty
Occupation: Mayor of Washington, DC
Age: 37
Education: BA, Oberlin College; JD, Howard University
Of note: Upon taking office in January of 2007, Fenty surprised everyone by taking the city's ailing school system under complete mayoral control. He got some flack and suspicion for choosing an Asian-American outsider instead of an African-American DC native to head the job.

Name: Cory Booker
Occupation: Mayor of Newark, NJ
Age: 39
Education: BA & MA, Stanford University; Honors Degree, University of Oxford; JD, Yale University
Of note: The two mayors to hold office in Newark before Booker were both booted out of office, Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James — both black — were plagued by fraud and corruption charges. The was the political legacy that Booker stepped into when he took over the crumbling city — his goals are to change its reputation and its dismal crime rates, and make the city economically viable.

Name: Michael Nutter
Occupation: Mayor of Philadelphia, PA
Age: 51
Education: BA, University of Pennsylvania
Of note: Michael Nutter campaigned in Philly as a reformer, and won his Democratic mayoral nomination by 37 percent in a 5-man field. He would go onto win the general election with 86 percent of the vote. He supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries. In an NY Times article on post-racial politics and Barack Obama, he said that his decision to support Hillary was what post-racial politics were all about. One of his over-arching goals is to reduce the abysmal murder rate in Philly, and as of April, the homicide rates were 25 percent lower than at the same time last year.

Name: Deval Patrick
Occupation: Governor of Massachussetts
Age: 52
Education: BA & JD, Harvard University
Of note: Deval Patrick, the second black governor in United States history, was the head of the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department during the Clinton administration. Despite a series of missteps early in his administration, which began January of 2007, he's a popular governor who garners national recognition for some of his policies and — and for the fact that he's only one of two black governors in the country (and one of four in U.S. history).

Name: David Paterson
Occupation: Governor of New York
Age: 54
Education: BA, Columbia University; JD, Hofstra University
Of note: Paterson, the former Lt. Governor of New York, entered office in a haze of scandal after his predecessor, Elliott Spitzer, embroiled himself in a tabloid-ready prostitute scandal. He wasn't without scandals of his own, and he quickly disclosed in full detail the extra-marital affairs and past drug use in his and his wife's pasts before it was dug up by someone else. Paterson was already popular and well-liked among Republicans and Democrats in the state house, and New Yorkers don't seem to be complaining. He's gotten a lot of press and applause — among liberal circles — for issuing a directive that the state recognize same-sex marriage licenses from other jurisdictions.

Sep 5, 2008 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · 6 Responses

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Tagged: Adrian Fenty, Cory Booker, David Paterson, Deval Patrick, Kwame Kilpatrick, Michael Nutter

Comments (6)

No. 1 · Szzy

Something to truly be proud of. Don't believe the hype that there are only successfull black women out there. Our black men are doing well and are NOT all in jail or are gansta rappers. Thanks for giving me names (some known some unknown to me) that I can pass on to my children to look up too.

Posted: Sep 5, 2008 at 8:25 pm

No. 2 · Txgal

Doesn't Kilpatrick remind you of "Baby Huey"? There's just something about him that screams big-cry-baby-selfish-arrogant-loser! And he's married!

Posted: Sep 6, 2008 at 1:37 pm

No. 3 · RaAkhenaton

Thanks for pointing out the current governor of New York, David Paterson. Honestly, I was so bombarded by all the "call girl scandal" Spitzer stories that I missed the name of his replacement. It's nice to see some positive press about us in America for a change!

Posted: Sep 7, 2008 at 2:03 am

No. 4 · RhymesWithSilver

I live in DC and I really like Fenty. He's also a serious triathlete, and competes in 6-7 triathalons a year. He's participating in one this month for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It's nice to see a mayor who can run (and bike, and swim) for more than just political office…

Posted: Sep 8, 2008 at 12:07 pm

No. 5 · Nichelle

I live in Newark and I'm a big Cory Booker fan. I voted for him twice and I am glad that he finally got in. Believe me, he has his hands full.

And he has a new blog!

Moving Newark Forward - http://blog.corybooker.com/

Posted: Sep 13, 2008 at 5:52 pm

No. 6 · The _Truth

5 POLITICIANS WHO AREN'T KWAME KILPATRICK ? As a black father of 3 let me see: Obama - association with Acorn, voting fraud, racist pastors, and Pentagon bombers. Eric Holder - participated in Clinton pardon scandals, Diane Wilkerson - bra stuffing, bribe taking senator, what about Dallas city councul member John Wiley Price objecting to the use of scientific term "black hole", or Cynthia McKinnney demanding to be let in Fed facility without her ID? If my strong black brothers and sisters don't mind, I am teaching my children to vote by issues and record not race.

Posted: Dec 4, 2008 at 3:08 pm